The plaintiff cargo owner shipped computer and printer pieces stored in a single shipping container on board the defendant’s vessel from Ecuador to Florida. Some of the cargo was lost in transit and the plaintiff filed suit, seeking damages for the full amount of the loss (over USD 126,000).  

The defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing its liability was limited under Hague Rules / COGSA art 4.5 to ‘$500 per package … or in the case of goods not shipped in packages, per customary freight unit'. The issue before the court was whether the containerized cargo could be defined as a single ‘package’ or ‘customary freight unit’ under Hague Rules / COGSA art 4.5.

Held: The cargo was only one package for Hague Rules / COGSA purposes and the defendant’s liability was therefore limited to USD 500. While the bill of lading included no definition of ‘package’, it did indicate that the computer part pieces were contained within a single high-cube container and did not clearly suggest an alternative number of packages. Additionally, since the freight rate was set ‘per package’ and paid in one lump sum, there was no clear ‘customary freight unit’ that might contradict the other evidence of a single intended package.